October 08, 2008

CALS inks MoU with WBIDC for refinery project at Haldia

BS reported that CALS Refineries Limited has signed a MoU with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation and the Haldia Development Authority for an INR 20,000 crore refinery project in Haldia.

Mr Manabendra Guha Roy CEO of CALS Refineries said that the project will be completed in 3 phases. The first phase, involving an investment of INR 4,000 crore for a 5 million tonnes capacity project, will generate direct and indirect employment for 1,500 people. About 400 acres was readily available and the first phase would be commissioned by the first quarter of 2010. The second phase will create employment for another 1,500 people and will be commissioned by the end of 2010. While, the third phase will be a Greenfield project at Nayachar once the infrastructure is ready. There will be an investment of INR 12,000 crore and employment for 6,000 to 8,000 people will be generated. The final phase will be commissioned in 2013.

CALS has already spent around INR 360 crore towards payment of equipment, supply, basic engineering and initial project enabling work. Site activities will begin by April 2008 and shipments of equipment are expected to arrive in Haldia from July 2008. The current phase of the refinery will be implemented by transplanting the main process units and equipment from Bayernoil Refinery in Ingalstadtt of Germany and supplementary units from Petro Canada Refinery in Edmonton of Canada. The balance utilities and offsite facilities will be supplied and erected indigenously. The refinery process units are designed by process licensing companies such as UOP, Snamprogetti, Lurgi, Amoco and Foster Wheeler. All the licenses will be transferred to CALS to operate the Haldia plant.

Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee chief minister of West Bengal said that the CALS Refineries investment is an important step for the state in the background of the proposed petroleum, chemical & petrochemical investment region project.